Wedding Cake
by john.vallis
Summary: A meeting between 13 and Jo Grant. In a moment of regret The Doctor tries to make a mend for the pain she caused way back when they parted.


The Doctor emptied another sachet of sugar into her coffee. She stirred it and took a sip. 4 sugars was _just right_. From her table in the corner of the café she had a pleasant view of shoppers pacing by the window. In a rush to make the most of the sales humans pushed past each other and bundled into stores. A short and fair woman, clutching several oversized bags turned the corner into The Doctor's view. Under the table, The Doctor pointed her sonic screwdriver, released a small buzz into the ether and watched as the fair woman put one of her bags onto the floor and looked at her phone.

"Are you almost done love?" called a voice with a broadly northern accent from behind the counter. A young barista stood wiping down the surfaces around her.

"Almost." The Doctor smiled. She took one more gulp, eyes fixated on the high street, and put the cup down. It was barely warm anymore anyway.

"Got any plans for New Year's"

"Just the one." She pulled her coat up from the back of her chair as she stood. "Yourself?" The barista didn't reply. Engaged in pleasantries with another customer she simply didn't hear her. The Doctor left the café.

Jo swept her hair behind her ear and began to type up her day's worth of notes into the computer. Various post-its were dotted about the edges of the screen and there were small piles of torn paper either side of the keyboard. Jo sighed as she placed her first full stop.

The sigh she let out after the second one was slightly larger.

" _No, no, no, I'll do it all tomorrow."_ she thought to herself as she sipped on a small glass of something spacey a friend had given her. She often referred to it as "Space Whiskey" to those in the know. The doorbell rang. Jo once again sighed, left her comfortable chair and answered the door.

On the other side of the door was a woman in her mid thirties.

"Hello," the stranger offered a hand, the other was behind her back 'Ms Grant, yes?"

"Yes it is Ms Grant, can I ask who you are at all?"

Jo took the stranger's hand and shook it. A small jolt of something rode up her frail arm. She held the stranger's hand a moment longer and looked her up and down. Oddly dressed, beaming smile, dazzling eyes.

"Did Lisa call around today at all?"

Jo didn't respond.

"It's just I heard she'd been meaning to come around and she was thinking of bringing the kids with her too." The stranger looked past Jo and into the house.

A strange buzz rang and the smoke detector fitted just inside the hallway let out a sharp beep followed by the one in the reception room, the one on the landing, one in each of the bedrooms and the final smoke detector in the loft. The heat sensors in both the kitchen and bathroom instead made a rather flat beep.

"Glad to see they're all working."

"I know you." said Jo Grant. She leapt forward, arms around the stranger.

"Oh, one of those faces."

"Yes, one of _his_ faces." Jo began to cry.

"Now, now, don't cry. You need to save your energy." the Doctor gasped for air in Jo's tight embrace. "Did Lisa pop around?"

"Yes, yes, yes Doctor but what does that matter right now?" Jo held on tightly.

"Did she check all the alarms?"

Jo let go and stood back. She nodded as the tears rolled down her rosy cheeks. She took The Doctor's hand and lead her into the kitchen where she sat her down and poured herself and The Doctor a glass of her special 'Space Whiskey'.

"Venusian Scotch, very nice." said The Doctor sipping.

"Why so long Doctor?" asked Jo, however The Doctor didn't answer. Jo tapped her glass in frustration. "Okay then, why the alarms Doctor?".

"No reason, just good to keep them in check." The Doctor smiled a forced smile. Jo grabbed the glass from The Doctor's hand and threw it into a cabinet just behind her.

"I know what this is and you can't do it." Jo whispered. "I'm 77 and it's the way it has to be." Jo wandered to the door. "You can see yourself out. After all these years...you can't just make up for it like this you know. You don't just decide when my story gets to end." Jo smashed her fist against a wall. "You couldn't just let me be. You couldn't let me have this could you?"

The Doctor put her drink down, placed her arms around the writhing Jo Grant and gave her a small peck on the cheek.

"Just go." demanded Jo over her old friend's shoulder.

The Doctor let go of Ms Jo Grant and left.

The following morning The Doctor watched from the end of the street as various fire crews struggled to stifle the smoke and flames which bellowed from Jo Grant's house. Lisa, Jo's daughter,ran through the small crowd where The Doctor stood crying out in confusion. Beside The Doctor stood a scruffily dressed man holding a small child in his arms, he turned the child's face from the scene. His eyes tracked Lisa's movement towards the house. He watched as she was restrained by firefighters and fell onto the floor.

"I can hold her. I'm a Doctor."

"I would really appreciate it. I'll only be up there, it's my wife you see."

"Go." nodded The Doctor, taking hold of the sleeping child. She was a young girl with delicate blonde hair. The man ran and embraced his wife. "I used to know your Nan kiddo. One of those people you know, that you could never forget. Kind, caring and most of all inquisitive. Big boots for you to fill." The Doctor rocked the baby in her arms. "I speak baby so I know you're getting all of this." She bopped the child on the nose with a gritted smile. "She ran with me and kept up like the best of them. Always made me think twice. I was so headstrong then." The Doctor reached into her pocket and pulled out a small key. "This was hers. Didn't do much good in the end though did it? All the magic in the cosmos and I couldn't help her one last time." She put the key into the fold of the child's blanket. "She'd want you to have it. I might not be the one she wanted to write her ending with but by Jove I know she loved how it started."

The man ran back towards The Doctor clutching his sobbing wife. He let go briefly and held out his arms.

"Thank you so much." he took the child. "It's my wife's mum you see, she was…"

"A fine woman Ms Jo Grant. I was just telling the little one." The Doctor turned and took a step. "I'm so sorry."

Some context…

So I was thinking about how 13 might interact with previous companions when I stumbled across Jo Grant's T.A.R.D.I.S. wiki. After reading that she died at the age of 77 in a fire at her own home I wondered how The Doctor might decide to deal with that in the current series.

Hope you enjoyed my take on it!


End file.
